{"id":45978,"date":"2019-06-19T07:52:04","date_gmt":"2019-06-19T12:52:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/?p=45978"},"modified":"2019-06-19T07:52:08","modified_gmt":"2019-06-19T12:52:08","slug":"unique-new-fhsu-degree-will-allow-students-credit-for-military-experience","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/?p=45978","title":{"rendered":"Unique new FHSU degree will allow students credit for military experience"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Randy Gonzales
<\/strong>University Relations and Marketing
<\/em>When he enlisted in the Tennessee National Guard in 1999, uppermost in Fred Mize\u2019s mind was serving his country. Now a master sergeant, he is thinking about ways to better provide for his wife and six children when he retires from the military.

Fort Hays State University is offering a unique associate degree program that will give Mize and other military members like him the opportunity to do just that.

This fall, Fort Hays State will be the only university in the nation to offer the Associate of Applied Science in Technology and Leadership degree option for service members and veterans from all branches of the military. FHSU restructured existing technology and leadership programs into one and added a technology education requirement that utilized military training and experience.

FHSU already has a partnership with the Army that uses soldiers\u2019 professional military education as part of this degree program, allowing degree completion in a shorter time span.

This particular associate program will award up to 36 credit hours (of 60 required) for military training and experience, including six hours of transfer credit using military leadership course substitutions. In addition to the associate degree, the program will award a certificate in leadership studies upon completion. Learning options include on campus, online or a mixture of both.

\u201cLooking at the different degree programs online, that one piqued my interest because it\u2019s leadership based,\u201d Mize said. \u201cIn any profession, that\u2019s important.\u201d

With the credit for military experience, the AAS degree can be completed in one year, a bachelor\u2019s degree in two more years and a master\u2019s degree in an additional year. Dr. Seth Kastle, an Army veteran and assistant professor of leadership studies at FHSU, took the initiative to restructure the degree program.

\u201cThis degree is an accelerated first step for service members in attaining civilian credentials that will help them find meaningful employment after their time of service,\u201d Kastle said. \u201cThey have been working in their fields for years. They have been practitioners of leadership since before they were old enough to purchase alcohol.\u201d

The program caught the attention of Command Sgt. Maj. Bryant Potts, the top noncommissioned officer for the U.S. Army\u2019s 95th Infantry Division, Fort Sill, Okla.

\u201cI think it\u2019s a great concept,\u201d said Sgt. Maj. Potts. \u201cThere are a lot of folks who are continuing their education while they are still serving. Fort Hays State having this degree option is great.\u201d

In addition to the opportunity to earn three degrees in four years, service members also receive an added benefit in continuing their education.

\u201cIn the military, as you get degrees, that fulfills a major requirement to advance your career,\u201d Kastle said.

Mize, who plans to retire from the military in four years, said this new degree will positively impact him and his family.

\u201cIt\u2019s something that\u2019s been lacking for many years,\u201d Mize said. \u201cSoldiers like myself, with my experience, if I don\u2019t have a degree to back that up when I retire, I wouldn\u2019t be very marketable in the civilian world even though I have so many years of leadership experience. With a degree backing it up, we\u2019re earning what we deserve.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Randy Gonzales University Relations and Marketing When he enlisted in the Tennessee National Guard in 1999, uppermost in Fred Mize\u2019s mind was serving his… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[11722],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-45978","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-press-releases"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45978","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=45978"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45978\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45979,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45978\/revisions\/45979"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=45978"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=45978"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=45978"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}